Chapter 1

June, 1762 of the Dou Calendar.

Yan Province, Jinshan Prefecture, inside the Jinshan Dao Academy.

The sky is between dark and light; dawn is about to arrive.

Amidst the urgent sound of the wooden clappers, a crowd of apprentices at the Jinshan Dao Academy yawned as they got out of bed, then proceeded to perform their daily routine of life's great event—taking a dump.

Xu Jin was no exception.

However, before going to the latrine, Xu Jin turned back into his room and took three or four pebbles he had picked up from his small parcel before heading in.

The bamboo spatulas used inside the latrine—not to mention the scraping of one's backside—the key point is that they are reused.

After the previous apprentice finishes using one, the next one rinses it in a bucket and continues to use it.

That water, who knows how long it's been since it was changed; it was already murky anyway.

Just based on this point alone, Xu Jin, who had transmigrated here a few months ago, couldn't stand it.

He wanted to transmigrate back immensely; although the chance was slim, he had to try at least.

Having been in this world for over three months, Xu Jin no longer thought about long legs, slender waists, straight black hair, beer, crayfish, or spicy hot pot; Xu Jin only missed the cheap and easy-to-use toilet paper from his past life.

However, this was not the most fundamental reason why Xu Jin was desperate to transmigrate back.

After resolving his personal business, Xu Jin followed the crowd of apprentices to the morning class plaza at the Jinshan Dao Academy, quickly found his spot, took off his top, and revealed a frame of nothing but bones.

Right in the center of his chest, a circular tattoo the size of an infant's fist was faintly visible; the tattoo was the same color as his skin, with the lines only vaguely discernible.

In the entire morning class plaza, apart from the small number of females, almost all the male apprentices had taken off their tops just like Xu Jin.

It was just that most people were very strong; a frame of nothing but bones like Xu Jin's was one of a kind.

This body that Xu Jin had transmigrated into had some problems.

A moment later, a ray of daylight suddenly appeared in the east, and the urgent sound of metal striking stone rang out at the edge of the plaza; a woman leaning on a crutch, wearing a light cyan martial outfit, with a slender figure and her face covered by a green veil, appeared at the very front of the plaza like a whirlwind.

Although he had seen this scene over a hundred times, every single time, it still left Xu Jin somewhat shocked.

The sprinters of his past life were not as fast as this Ning Jiaotou Ning, who had a crippled leg.

This was Ning Yuchan, the instructor for their current Spring Star-Pointing Assembly; the youths called her "Iron Crutch Ning," some called her "Ning the Rakshasa," and many youths privately called her "Ning the Cripple," though Xu Jin dared not.

"Clouds emerge, Meal of Mist stance, rise!"

One by one, the youths immediately stepped out, crouched slightly, held their hands in a void embrace, faced the first ray of daylight, and with eyes slightly closed, in a state of being relaxed yet not quite, they began to perform the inhaling and exhaling motion facing the morning mist.

Between each inhalation and exhalation, it lasted as long as ten seconds.

In just a moment, changes occurred on the bodies of these hundreds of youths, and the tiers were obvious.

One youth, after just a single breath, had the star pattern on his chest begin to shine, emitting a faint starlight; as he inhaled and exhaled, the starlight flickering from the chest pattern had already covered his entire chest and abdomen, and the starlight had even covered his hands and was spreading toward his right leg.

Ning Jiaotou Ning Yuchan's gaze toward this youth was clearly the most satisfied.

There were over ten other youths whose chest star patterns were also flickering with faint starlight, but the starlight flickering from their chest patterns mostly only covered their chest and abdomen, with a few individuals having the starlight spread toward their hands.

There were over forty other youths whose chest star pattern brilliance only spread between their chest and abdomen during each inhalation and exhalation.

As for the remaining three hundred or so youths, their chest star patterns, just like Xu Jin's, remained dim and lusterless; occasionally the brilliance of the chest star pattern would light up, but it would quickly dim again.

Ning Jiaotou Ning's gaze roamed over these youths.

There were only a few days left; she wondered how many more youths could successfully solidify their star patterns.

At this very moment, Xu Jin was also working hard to circulate the Meal of Mist stance, while in his mind, he was simultaneously visualizing the star pattern on his chest and contemplating the mist light between heaven and earth being inhaled into his mouth, then sent into the star pattern.

Extremely focused.

Between each inhalation and exhalation, the star pattern on Xu Jin's chest also began to flicker with faint starlight, but every time it lit up, the starlight would extinguish again.

Yet it was very clear that as the Meal of Mist stance continued, the time the starlight on Xu Jin's chest pattern lit up was getting longer and longer.

The possibility of it being completely lit up was also getting higher and higher.

Even the gaze Ning Jiaotou Ning Yuchan cast toward Xu Jin became more frequent.

Xu Jin was slightly special; she really hoped this youth would succeed in solidifying his star pattern.

Suddenly, Ning Yuchan's gaze glanced toward Xu Jin's direction, because Xu Jin, who was in the middle of the Meal of Mist, had his rosy lips suddenly turn dark blue, and the color on his face quickly faded.

"It's happening again!"

Sighing inwardly, Ning Jiaotou Ning Yuchan walked toward Xu Jin leaning on her crutch, but before she could even rush over, Xu Jin had already let out a muffled groan and collapsed to the ground.

Just like the previous several times, Xu Jin's lips were dark blue, his heartbeat was like a beating drum, his whole body was sweating like a river, his mouth was wide open, gasping for air rapidly, and his right hand was trembling as it reached for the leather pouch at his waist, but he couldn't grasp it no matter what.

Before Ning Jiaotou Ning could rush over, a youth surnamed Qian beside Xu Jin had already skillfully taken a Heart-Saving Pill from the leather pouch at Xu Jin's waist and fed it into Xu Jin's mouth.

"Only circulate the Meal of Mist breathing stance, do not perform any visualization."

A moment later, Xu Jin's breathing began to stabilize, and the dark blue on his face gradually faded; only then did Ning Yuchan leave, leaving behind a remark, "Your body is unwell, don't practice today." As she spoke, she shook her head helplessly.

This Xu Jin's talent was actually quite good, but his body had problems, and they were congenital.

Xu Jin was also full of helplessness.

Such a situation had already occurred three times since he transmigrated here.

Moreover, according to the medical knowledge Xu Jin had learned from popular science videos in his past life, this body most likely had congenital heart disease.

The previous owner probably left because of this.

And he had already triggered it four times during his cultivation.

This was also the fundamental reason why Xu Jin wanted to transmigrate back.

The world before his eyes was still very novel; it was said there were Star Masters who could chase the stars and catch the moon, and Xu Jin still very much wanted to explore it, especially since he had the cultivation opportunity before him.

But this body seemed to have congenital heart disease; he always felt like a heavy stone was pressing on his chest, his breathing was not smooth, and once he cultivated to a critical juncture, it would trigger an attack, causing his cultivation to fail.

If an attack were to be severe one day, he would just drop dead.

No matter which world it was, being alive was the first priority.

Moreover, the reason the previous owner's father exhausted everything to send him to this Jinshan Dao Academy was because within this Jinshan Dao Academy, there was a possibility of curing his body's serious illness.

Of course, it was only a possibility.

Therefore, Xu Jin was very desperate to transmigrate back.

He didn't want to die.

Although his previous body wasn't a muscle-bound hunk, it wasn't bad either.

Normally speaking, wanting to transmigrate back was basically impossible, but Xu Jin felt that perhaps he could try, because he had already figured out how he had transmigrated over.

He wanted to try if he could transmigrate back using the same method.

During the May Day holiday, while Xu Jin was traveling in the Long region, he passed by a dilapidated small temple, which turned out to be the Wuhou Shrine, so Xu Jin went in to look around and pay his respects.

The Taoist priest guarding the shrine strongly recommended their Wuhou Shrine's Star-Invoking Altar, saying that although it couldn't extend one's life, it could increase blessings and dispel disasters.

Anyway, there was no harm, and Xu Jin had a little understanding of this aspect, so holding the thought of "better to believe it exists than not," Xu Jin spent one hundred big ones to try it out.

The priest didn't take much money, but the ritual he prepared was not bad at all.

Incense, oil lamps, jade ritual implements, ritual robes, including a sacrificial text of several dozen characters.

He instructed Xu Jin to wear the ritual robe, step on the nine stars, and after lighting the star lamps (oil lamps) and incense one by one, he had Xu Jin silently recite the sacrificial text nine times, and then, Xu Jin arrived here.

Now, Xu Jin just wanted to try if he could rely on this Star-Invoking ritual to transmigrate back again.

Ever since he discovered that this body had an illness, Xu Jin had been preparing for this matter, and now he was only missing the last jade ritual implement.

"Morning class is over."

Following Ning Jiaotou Ning Yuchan's announcement, the three-hour-long morning class ended.

Almost everyone was full of exhaustion; this Meal of Mist stance was extremely mentally draining.

However, Ning Jiaotou Ning Yuchan did not leave immediately today, but instead looked at the exhausted youths and suddenly spoke, "The Star-Pointing Assembly for this term ends in seven days, and the star patterns branded on your bodies will also disappear after seven days.

For the last seven days, I hope you will cast aside all distracting thoughts, cultivate and study wholeheartedly, and push for star-pointing.

Even if you succeed in star-pointing within the final deadline, you can still obtain a C-minus evaluation and can still cultivate star arts.

But if you fail to point the star," Ning Yuchan's gaze swept over the crowd of youths who had not successfully pointed the star, "not to mention that your families may not be able to come up with the huge sum of two hundred taels of silver required for a second star pattern branding, even if you do come up with it and succeed in star-pointing, the evaluation you obtain will at most be a non-influential D-grade, and whether you can cultivate star arts is still up for debate.

Therefore, for the last seven days, give it your all!"

After speaking, her iron crutch paused slightly, and she stepped out over ten meters; with a few leaps, Ning Yuchan disappeared.

Xu Jin slowly stood up and let out a helpless breath.

He wanted to give it his all, but once he did, he would have an attack and be on the verge of death.

He could only try that Star-Invoking ritual.

Now, his Star-Invoking ritual was all prepared, only missing a jade ritual implement, which was actually a jade gui.

He had found the jade gui, but jade articles were quite valuable everywhere; the jade gui he found was priced at five taels of silver, and he was still short two taels.

It's just that no matter where you are, shit is hard to eat, and money is hard to earn.

At noon, Xu Jin, who had hastily listened to two lessons on the Six Arts of Star Martial Arts, had been worrying about ways to earn money when suddenly the gatekeeper called his name.

"Xu Jin, someone is here to visit!"

Joy first appeared on Xu Jin's face, but then it turned into worry.

Having no relatives or friends at this Jinshan Dao Academy, the person who could come to visit him must be the previous owner's father, Xu Dajiang.

Xu Dajiang was extremely good to the previous owner, or rather, to Xu Jin; he would definitely come to visit once every half month, and even for the current Xu Jin, he was responsive to every request.

It was precisely because of the care of this cheap old dad, Xu Dajiang, that Xu Jin, who had transmigrated over, could still get by.

The problem now was that Xu Jin wanted to transmigrate back.

"Dad! Jiang Er."

At the gate of the Jinshan Dao Academy, Xu Dajiang, carrying a parcel, and a graceful young girl were looking forward with anticipation.

"Jin Er!"

"Brother!"

Seeing Xu Jin come over, his younger sister Xu Jiang waved happily.

Just like before, the family of three sat down on the spot under the big willow tree not far from the academy gate, while his younger sister Xu Jiang opened the parcel to take things out.

"Brother, these are clean clothes for you to change into; take off your dirty clothes in a while, and I'll take them back to wash, then bring them to you next time."

"Brother, these are wheat cakes I made by hand this morning; they're still soft."

"Brother, these are broad beans I stir-fried; they're so crispy."

"Brother, these are frogs Dad caught in the fields; I boiled them and then stir-fried them in oil; they're so delicious, you hurry and taste them."

After sitting down, the 14-year-old little Jiang Er didn't stop her mouth or hands, constantly taking things out.

Xu Jin didn't stand on ceremony either, eating big mouthfuls.

The academy provided meals, and for those who hadn't successfully pointed the star, they could only be fed until full; Xu Jin was physically weak, so Xu Dajiang would give Xu Jin extra silver to buy some good food to nourish his body, and although it wasn't much, Xu Jin saved it all.

This wasn't a complaint; on the contrary, Xu Jin knew very well that Xu Dajiang had already exhausted everything for Xu Jin.

"Dad, Jiang Er, you eat too."

Xu Jin spoke while eating, and seeing Xu Dajiang and Xu Jiang just nodding but not eating, he didn't let his hands rest, feeding them while he ate himself.

Experience from the previous visits had long ago made Xu Jin understand that if he didn't feed them, this father and daughter would absolutely not eat.

They were both planning to save it for Xu Jin to eat.

After eating only a few mouthfuls, Xu Dajiang made an excuse to avoid to the side, unwilling to eat more of this good food.

After the meal, his younger sister Xu Jiang fetched water from the riverside not far away, "Brother, you lie on this rock, and I'll wash and comb your hair; look at this hair of yours, what has it become."

Xu Jin responded awkwardly and obediently lay down.

The second problem after transmigrating over was the long hair.

Xu Jin, who used to have a crew cut, was at a loss when facing his own long hair.

Although there had been some progress in grooming it recently, it was still messy, the kind where hair was flying everywhere.

Every time his younger sister Xu Jiang came over, she would wash and comb Xu Jin's hair.

Under the big willow tree, sunlight was sparsely scattered; Xu Jin lay on the big bluestone, while his younger sister Xu Jiang Er held a small wooden comb, combing Xu Jin's hair with her face and eyes full of care, the breeze rippling.

This moment of peace, whether in his past life or this one, Xu Jin had never experienced before.

Having a younger sister is also quite good, Xu Jin thought.

Such a graceful, gentle, and lovely younger sister, you wouldn't find one even if you searched with a lantern.

Before long, Xu Jiang had tidied up Xu Jin's long hair, tied it up, and combed it neatly; Xu Jin himself even had a feeling of being refreshed.

"Jin Er, how is the star-pointing going?" At this time, his old dad Xu Dajiang, who had been avoiding him for half a day, also came over.

"Not yet." Xu Jin said gloomily, "I feel like I'm almost there, but then I have an attack again."

"Sigh!"

Xu Dajiang let out a long sigh, and there wasn't even a trace of disappointment in his eyes; all that was there was heartache and pain.

Even his younger sister Xu Jiang's expression became tense, "What should we do, brother's star-pointing this term is almost"

Xu Dajiang glared at her, and Jiang Er pursed her lips, "It's not like your brother isn't working hard; I feel that if he works hard, he will definitely succeed in these last few days."

"Yes, yes, yes!" Jiang Er nodded repeatedly.

After speaking, Xu Dajiang took a small cloth bag directly from his bosom, "Jin Er, this is two taels and three qian of silver; you buy some extra good food to nourish your body; don't save it, you must eat until you're full, and then you'll have the energy to cultivate and point the star properly.

Dad has plenty of strength now and can earn silver!"

"That's right, that's right, I can also earn money by sewing, mending, and washing clothes," little Jiang Er said hurriedly.

Xu Jin's lips trembled slightly, but in the end, he still took the small cloth bag.

"Dad, Jiang Er, you take care on the road."

Returning to his room, Xu Jin's mood was somewhat complicated.

That Star-Invoking ritual, he wondered if it could successfully transmigrate him back?

What if it succeeded?

He was a bit reluctant to part with this younger sister.

After pondering for a long while, Xu Jin still got up and asked for leave from the instructor teaching the Six Arts of Star Martial Arts; the silver was enough, and he had to go prepare the items for the Star-Invoking ritual.

Let's just survive first.

The previous owner probably left because of the illness; Xu Jin had been in this world for three months, and adding the two lives together, it was only twenty-some years; he hadn't lived enough yet.

Over these three months, Xu Jin had long ago clearly inquired about the information and prices of the items that needed to be purchased.

After making a round, he bought the incense, oil lamps, and copper bells he needed, and entered a jade shop he had inquired about several times before; the shopkeeper already recognized Xu Jin.

"Young man, you're back!"

"Shopkeeper, I've come to buy that jade gui; please keep it for me."

"I've kept it; it's five taels of silver."

"Shopkeeper, look at how sincere I am; give me a discount; I'll come often in the future," Xu Jin said with a smile.

Poor, save where you can.

The shopkeeper took a look at Xu Jin, thought for a moment, and only then handed the jade gui to Xu Jin on a tray, "Young man, you are indeed sincere; four taels and eight qian, this is the maximum I can decide on."

"Many thanks!"

The things needed for the Star-Invoking ritual were basically all there; next, he had to arrange for his possible funeral affairs, and then find a place where no one would disturb him to set up the altar and invoke the stars.

(End of chapter)